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*Published June 22, 2010*

This is one of my favourites series that I have ever read, and it’s written by one of my favourite authors EVER! ALL HAIL QUEEN GAIL!!! Oh, so good! And I was needing something to listen to while driving home from work, and I had never listened to this books before so I decided to give this series a try on audiobooks.

Victorian romance mixes seamlessly with elegant prose and biting wit – and werewolves – in Gail Carriger’s delightful debut novel. Soulless introduces Alexia Tarabotti, a parasol-wielding Londoner getting dangerously close to spinster status. But there are more important things than finding a husband. For Alexia was born without a soul, giving her the ability to render any vampire or werewolf completely powerless.

Okay, I will admit, that before listening to this book, it has been several years since I’ve read Soulless. But! Soulless is a wonderful Victorian steampunk about a woman who would be considered a spinster, an Italian one at that, who doesn’t have a soul. She, being soulless, is able to render both vampires and werewolves, who are members of society, back to their human forms. Otherwise, she looks and acts like any other person of society.

I honestly find Alexia to be the best character throughout this book. She and Lord Akeldama, a rove vampire who is the sparkliest of sparkly vampires (as in actual jewels, no Tw/i/light vampires here!). She is a strong woman who knows what she wants, and will go after it with a will. She also stands up for herself and her smarts, seeing as she has no soul, Alexia decided to educate herself from a young age so that she would have some sort of moral code as she grew.

Steampunk Victorian England is also a wonderful world. The majority of us know what Victorian England looks like, or at least what it should look like, because of the whole steampunk genre that seems to have gained popularity in the past decade or so. I also love the small changes in vampire and werewolf lore that Gail Carriger brings to her series and her world with Alexia. It’s a world that fits the characters and these characters are a bit larger than life, so much so, that you just have to pay attention to what they are doing.

I do love this series, but there are a few things that haven’t aged quite as well, but this is still a wonderful book all around. I do look forward to continuing my dive back into the world of our Queen, Gail Carriger! What authors are your absolute favourite authors? What about their books have drawn you to them? Comment below and let me know!